System and method for enhanced domain availability notification

ABSTRACT

A method for providing IP network information to a network service provider receives at a voice call continuity application server an indication that a call to a mobile device has been dropped by the IP network and transmits information relating to the dropped call from the voice call continuity application server to a monitoring system of the network service provider.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/470,939, filed May 14, 2012, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCEDDOMAIN AVAILABILITY NOTIFICATION, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,428,052, issuedApr. 23, 2013, the specification of which is incorporated herein in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the provision of network availabilityinformation, and more particularly to the use of a notification providedfrom a Voice Call Continuity application server within the IMS domain toprovide realtime information with respect to network availability.

BACKGROUND

The Voice Call Continuity (VCC) specification describes how a voice callcan be maintained as a mobile device moves between a circuit switchnetwork and a packet switch network. Within a standard VOIP call, theoperation of the mobile devices are controlled by the IP infrastructure.However, within the VCC specification, calls to and from a mobile devicein a circuit switch domain may become attached and detached from the IPdomain. As the handset becomes attached and detached from wirelessaccess points, such as a Wi-Fi hotspot, a notification is provided ofthe radio conditions to a VCC platform within the network from thehandset. This enables circuit switch and IP switch callings to beoriginated and terminated in a transparent manner such that the callpath is automatically transferred between domains. The points at whichthese calls become connected and disconnected would be of interest to anetwork service provider because they provide indications of dead spotsor weaknesses within the network. Some manner for providing realtimeinformation with respect to this information that is causing the mobiledevice to switch between the IP network and circuit switch network wouldbe of great benefit to the service provider in the control and operationof their networks.

SUMMARY

The present invention as disclosed and described herein, in one aspectthereof, comprises a method for providing IP network information to anetwork service provider receives at a voice call continuity applicationserver an indication that a call to a mobile device has been dropped bythe IP network and transmits information relating to the dropped callfrom the voice call continuity application server to a monitoring systemof the network service provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding, reference is now made to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingDrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the manner in which notifications are presentlyprovided when a user equipment is dropped from an IP network;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram describing the manner in which locationinformation may be automatically exported to a monitoring systemresponsive to a dropped IP call;

FIG. 3 illustrates the communications links established when an IP callis dropped according to the method of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 more particularly illustrates the manner for providing anautomatic notification to a monitoring system responsive to the droppingof an IP call; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the manner for including location information withina PANI header.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers are usedherein to designate like elements throughout, the various views andembodiments of a system and method for enhanced domain availabilitynotification are illustrated and described, and other possibleembodiments are described. The figures are not necessarily drawn toscale, and in some instances the drawings have been exaggerated and/orsimplified in places for illustrative purposes only. One of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate the many possible applications andvariations based on the following examples of possible embodiments.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there isillustrated the various communications links and messages establishedresponsive to the dropping of a Voice over IP call by an IP network. Theuser equipment 102 initially establishes the basis for an IP connectionwith the IP network 106 over a link 104. Additionally, the userequipment 102 establishes the basis for a connection with the circuitswitch network 108 over a link 110. Calls will then be carried out overthe IP network 106 until a problem with the IP network connection isdetected. Upon the necessity for dropping an IP based call, the userequipment 102 transmits an SMS message 112 to the Voice Call Continuityapplication server 114 to notify the application server of the necessityto change to a circuit switched connection. The VCC application server114 transmits information 116 back to the IP network 106 enabling thehandoff of the call from the IP network 106 to the circuit switchnetwork 108 in a seamless fashion.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated the manner in whichadditional information may be provided to a service provider monitoringsystem 202 that will enable the information provided by the userequipment 102 to be provided to the monitoring system 202 in realtimeand provide network coverage information that may be utilized by asystem provider to improve network performance. The user equipment 102establishes an IP link 104 with the IP network 106 and provides theinformation necessary for establishing the circuit switched link 110with the circuit switch network 108. The user equipment 102 may comprisea mobile telephone, personal data assistant, tablet computer, portablelaptop computer or any other type of portable communications device.Upon occurrence of a situation causing the IP based call to be droppedby the user equipment 102, information 112 is transmitted to the VoiceCall Continuity application server 114 indicating dropping of the callby the IP network 106. The VCC application server 114 transmitsinformation 116 back to the IP network 106 providing for the handoff ofthe call between the IP network 106 and the circuit switched network108. Additionally, the VCC application server 114 will transmit locationinformation 204 relating to the user equipment 102 to the monitoringsystem 202 such that this information may be used by the serviceprovider to provide realtime information with respect to the networkcoverage areas associated with the user equipment 102. The serviceprovider may then use the information to improve and update networkperformance.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a flow diagram describingthe manner in which the remote monitoring system is provided withinformation related to the calls being dropped by the IP network.Initially, the user equipment 102 loses IP network coverage at aparticular location at step 302. Responsive to the loss of the IPnetwork coverage, the user equipment 102 is switched to the circuitswitched domain at step 304. The user equipment 102 sends an SMS messageto the VCC application server at step 306 notifying the VCC applicationserver 114 of the switch to the circuit switched domain. The VCCapplication server 114 receives at step 308 the SMS message from theuser equipment 102 and determines the last known PANI header of the userequipment at step 310. Utilizing the location information stored withinthe last known PANI header at the VCC application server 114, thelocation information within the PANI header is exported at step 312 tothe network provider monitoring system and this information may then beused by the network provider to track network coverage areas and improveor update network performance.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is provided a more detailed descriptionof the manner for notifying the remote monitoring system when an IPbased call is dropped. When the user loses IP network coverage at step402, the user equipment 102 switches to the client domain at step 404.The user equipment 102 generates an SMS message including the PANIheader from the user equipment at step 406. The configuration of thePANI header is more particularly illustrated in FIG. 5, which shows thePANI header 502 having the location information 504 embedded someplacetherein. The user equipment 102 transmits the SMS message at step 408 tothe VCC application server 114. The VCC application server 114 receivesthe SMS message at step 410 and extracts the location information atstep 412 from the PANI header 502 within the SMS message. The SMSmessage can additionally include RF related information that will aidthe service provider in optimization of the network. For example, signalstrength that was reported to the user equipment 102 immediately beforethe call was dropped or neighboring cell information. This extractedlocation information 504 from the PANI header 502 is exported at step414 to the remote monitoring system 202 of the system provider. Thesystem provider may use this information with respect to the locationsat which IP based calls are being dropped to control and improve varioussystem operations within their IP network.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that this system and method for enhanced domainavailability notification provides realtime network information whichmay be valuable to a network service provider. It should be understoodthat the drawings and detailed description herein are to be regarded inan illustrative rather than a restrictive manner, and are not intendedto be limiting to the particular forms and examples disclosed. On thecontrary, included are any further modifications, changes,rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, andembodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope hereof, as defined by the followingclaims. Thus, it is intended that the following claims be interpreted toembrace all such further modifications, changes, rearrangements,substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing IP network information toa network service provider, comprising: receiving at a voice callcontinuity application server a first message including an indicationthat a call to a mobile device has been dropped by an IP network; andaccessing a most recently received second message containing geographicupdate information of a plurality of periodically received messagescontaining geographic update information, the second message including ageographic location of the mobile device; extracting the geographiclocation of the mobile device from the most recently received secondmessage responsive to the first message; transmitting the geographiclocation relating to the dropped call from the voice call continuityapplication server to a monitoring server of the network serviceprovider that tracks geographic locations at which IP network calls aredropped.
 2. The method of claim 1, further including the step ofaltering operation of the IP network responsive to the geographiclocation relating the dropped call transmitted to the monitoring server.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message comprises a textmessage.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprisesa SIP message.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: transmittingfrom the mobile device the plurality of periodically received secondmessages to the voice call continuity application server each containinglocation information for the mobile device; and transmitting the firstmessage to the voice call continuity application server from the mobiledevice indicating the call has been dropped by the IP network.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the first messagefurther comprises the step of detecting dropping of the call by the IPnetwork.
 7. A method for providing IP network information to a networkservice provider, comprising: transmitting from a mobile device aplurality of headers to a voice call continuity application server eachheader containing location information defining a geographic locationfor the mobile device; transmitting a message to the voice callcontinuity application server from the mobile device indicating a callhas been dropped by an IP network; and extracting location informationdefining the geographic location from a most recent header received atthe voice call continuity application server responsive to the message;transmitting the location information defining the geographic locationfrom the most recent header relating to the dropped call from the voicecall continuity application server to a monitoring server of the networkservice provider that tracks geographic locations at which IP networkcalls are dropped responsive to the message and the location informationdefining the geographic location in the most recent header.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, further including the step of altering the operationof the IP network responsive to the information relating the droppedcall transmitted to the monitoring server.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the step of transmitting the message further comprises receivingthe information at the voice call continuity application server withinthe header.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of transmittinglocation information further comprises: extracting the locationinformation from the most recent header received at the voice callcontinuity application server responsive to the message; transmittingthe extracted location information from the voice call continuityapplication server to the monitoring system of the network serviceprovider.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of transmittingthe message further comprises the step of detecting the dropping of thecall by the IP network.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the headercomprises a header of a SIP message.
 13. The method of claim 7, whereinthe message comprises a text message.
 14. A method for providing IPnetwork information to a network service provider, comprising:transmitting from a mobile device a plurality of first messages to avoice call continuity application server each first message containinglocation information defining a geographic location for the mobiledevice; transmitting a second message to the voice call continuityapplication server from the mobile device indicating a call has beendropped by an IP network; extracting the location information definingthe geographic location from a most recent first message received at thevoice call continuity application server responsive to the secondmessage; transmitting the extracted location information defining thegeographic location from the most recent first message relating to thedropped call from the voice call continuity application server to amonitoring server of the network service provider that tracks geographiclocations at which IP network calls are dropped responsive to the firstmessage; and altering operation of the IP network responsive to theinformation relating the dropped call transmitted to the monitoringserver.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of receivingfurther comprises receiving the information at the voice call continuityapplication server within the first message.
 16. The method of claim 14,wherein the step of transmitting the second message further comprisesthe step of detecting the dropping of the call by the IP network.
 17. Asystem for providing IP network information to a network serviceprovider, comprising: a voice call continuity application server forreceiving a first message that a call to a mobile device has beendropped by an IP network; wherein the voice call continuity applicationserver further transmits information relating to the dropped call to amonitoring system of the network service provider responsive to an theindication that the call has been dropped; wherein the voice callcontinuity application server accesses a most recently reviewed secondmessage of a plurality of previously received second message, the secondmessages each including a geographic location of the mobile device; andthe voice call continuity application server further extracts thegeographic locations of the mobile device from the most recentlyreceived second message responsive to the first message.
 18. The systemof claim 17, further including an IP network service provider server foraltering an operation of the IP network responsive to the informationrelating the dropped call transmitted to the monitoring system.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the first message comprises a text message.20. The system of claim 17, wherein the second message comprises a SIPmessage.
 21. The system of claim 17 further comprising: a mobile deviceclient for transmitting from the mobile device the plurality of secondmessages to the voice call continuity application server each containingthe geographic location for the mobile device; and wherein the mobiledevice client further transmits the first message to the voice callcontinuity application server from the mobile device indicating the callhas been dropped by the IP network.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereinthe mobile device client further detects the dropping of the call by theIP network.